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Nevil Shute ( January 17, 1899 - January 12, 1960) (real name Nevil Shute Norway) was one of the most popular novelists of the mid- 20th century. Shute's works are generally adventure novels told in a low-key but engrossing style, often with an emphasis on technical areas. No Highway (1948), for example, builds drama around structure failure in an airplane design. Several of his novels also have a supernatural element, notably Round the Bend (1951), which concerns a new religion growing up around an airplane mechanic. Shute's best-known book was one of his last: On the Beach (1957), set in a world slowly dying from the effects of an atomic war. Its popularity is due in part to its adaptation into a film, which Shute despised because of the liberties Hollywood took with his characters.
Born in London, he was educated at Shrewsbury and Balliol College, Oxford. Shute served in World War I and became an aviator. An aeronautical engineer as well as a pilot, he worked for Vickers Ltd. and was involved with the development of airships. He was Chief Calculator (stress engineer) for the Airship Guarantee Company where he worked on construction of the R-100 Airship. He was deputy chief engineer under Barnes Wallis from 1924-30. His most significant airship work involved the R-100, a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve the needs of Britain's global empire. R-100 was a modest success, but the fatal crash of its government-funded counterpart, R-101, in 1930 ended Britain's interest in airships and the R-100 was grounded and scrapped. He gives a detailed account of the episode in his 1950Events January January 5 US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with autobiographical work, Slide Rule. Shute left Vickers shortly afterward, and in 1931 founded the aircraft construction company Airspeed LtdThe Airspeed company was established to build aeroplanes in 1931 in York, England by A. Tiltman and N. Following production of the AS4 Ferry, a three engined, ten passenger biplane, the company concentrated on transport monoplanes. In March 1933 the firm.
In 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the he married Francis Mary Heaton. They had two daughters.
By the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough Shute was already a rising novelist. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a sub-lieutenant in the Miscellaneous Weapons Department, where he experimented with secret weapons, a job that appealed to the engineer in him. His celebrity as a writer caused the Ministry of Information to send him to the NormandyThis article concerns the former country of Normandy. For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). Mont Saint Michel is a historic pilgrimage site and a symbol of Normandy Normandy is a former country (a Duchy) situated in northern France occupying the landings on June 6, 1944Events World War II January January 4 The Battle of Monte Cassino begins. January 5 Murder of Danish playwright Kaj Munck January 17 British forces, in Italy, cross the Garigliano River. January 20 The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin;, and later to Burma as a correspondent.
After World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, he went to live in Australia, decrying what he saw as a decline in his home country. Australia features in many of his later novels, the best-known being A Town Like Alice ( 1949). He had a brief career as a racing car driver in Australia between 1956 and 1958, driving a white XK140 Jaguar . Some of this experience found its way into his book On The Beach.
Many of his books were filmed, including The Pied Piper ( 1942), On the Beach and No Highway (filmed as "No Highway in the Sky" in 1951). A Town Like Alice was adapted for television in the 1970s, and shown in the United States on the Public Broadcasting System's Masterpiece Theater.
